Social enterprise and financial sustainability in South Asia: A grounded theory.

This paper presents a theoretically grounded strategy for the financial sustainability of smallto- medium nonprofit organisations (NPOs) engaged in social enterprise (SE) strategies. The theory is based on research conducted in the South Asia region: specifically India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Despite the significant growth in the NPO sector in this region, the literature does not adequately deal with the emergence of SE. Using an adaptation of Strauss and Corbin's (1998) pragmatic approach to grounded theory method (GTM), the aim of this research is to contribute to the formulation of practical solutions to achieving financial sustainability across the spectrum of the target organisations, with due consideration of their region and country specific social, cultural, economic, and institutional contexts and drivers. This is achieved through development of a performance-based management action framework to achieve financial sustainability for small-to-medium NPOs pursuing SE strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]